News organizations have a set of "values" that determine what makes news. These are something like: impact, weight, tension, unusual, prominence, proximity, timeliness, currency, and relevance. I don't think there is any sort of conspiracy on the part of the mainstream media to shut out Linux related news. I think it is hard to explain the open source movement in laymen terms and find stories that live up to these news values. A story about Microsoft will make the news because they are a large corporation and it will be of interest to business reporters. A story about what an OSS project is doing will not make the news because it has less of an economic impact and fewer people are interested in such stories.
The FOSS movement is partly to blame for not reaching out to the media and framing stories from the FOSS in appropriate ways. I think there are a number of ways in which a mainstream audience would be interested in Linux-related news. For example, I'm currently working for a libertarian/conservative publication and I'm trying to find ways to write about the Linux-related topics that would be of interest to our readers. I think that stories about how FOSS can be used to cut costs during a recession would be of interest to a mainstream business audience. Likewise, using FOSS in government as a means to save taxpayer dollars would be of interest to the general public and political types in particular. I would also like to find ways to link the free software movement with the freedom movement in general, as I think many libertarians would be sympathetic to the cause. If anyone has any story ideas, please feel free to contact me. The FOSS community should be actively engaged in helping disseminate information about the movement to the public at large. Jesse On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 11:59 AM, John Jardine <[email protected]>wrote: > My corollary to this is that it doesn't matter about product quality, > availability or much else. If you give a media outlet something > sensational to report they will. Especially if you actually write the > copy for them so they just have to "report" it. > > If you want to get some "free, unbiased" coverage for your product > announcement you do it in Vegas with hookers^H^H^H^H^H^Hagents and > blow^H^H^H^Hswag and invite the media. Wow, that was cynical even by my > standards! > > I was howling with laughter the yesterday when a Global News announcer > said, with a straight face, that counterfeit products (CDs, clothes, > toys) were funding terrorism. What a whopper!!! What an absolute coup > for the RIAA et all publicists! That was an impressive piece of work to > get that read on the evening news. Shame on the news organizations for > not fact checking that and asking to see the money trail. I'm betting > there will be a a trip to Vegas for whoever orchestrated that. > > > On Tue, 2009-06-16 at 10:47 -0600, Dafydd Crosby wrote: > > By your logic, then, the year that Red Hat IPO'd was the year of the > > Linux desktop, since the corporate media was happy to report the bundles > > of cash they made :-P > > > > Most media outlets are for-profit, and they generate revenue by fielding > > advertisers. Microsoft will happily spend billions to flood the market > > for ads, garnering appeal by presenting cash. Payola isn't just a radio > > thing, it's a media thing. "If you give me money, I think you're > > awesome." Sad to say, most open-source projects do not make nearly > > enough to pay for 30 second spots on the television. IBM had that ad > > campaign a few years ago, but they weren't selling Linux, they were > > selling IBM. Until there's a monetary interest for the media, the > > mainstream nightly news won't care one iota. At most, you'll be lucky to > > get a mention on a CBC-sponsored blog - and even then, it's only because > > they feel they should in order to be 'balanced'. > > > > This isn't supposed to be a sour post, but a reflection on the realities > > of the market. Until some Linux company starts coughing up cash > > promoting Linux on the level of Microsoft and Apple, the mainstream will > > only be concerned about Microsoft and Apple. > > > > -Dafydd > > > > bogi wrote: > > > It will be the year of the Linux desktop, for the general public that > is, when > > > the corp. media actually reports stuff about linux, and you hear about > it in > > > the news etc... Not while 90% of the people think they only can have > windows > > > with their computer, and could not be bothered. A rebellious computer > user , > > > 98% of them, think there are 2 options PC=Windows and a MAC ... that's > it. > > > Linux is not presented as an option. It also ads to the shameful state > of > > > affairs that we basically hold our events in secret, only advertising > to > > > close friends and supporters. If we don't come out of the closet with > this > > > Linux thing, there will never be a Year of the Linux desktop, ever. > Corp > > > media will not do it, neither will computer stores like best buy, dell, > > > hp ... They all keep their Linux related offers unannounced to the > general > > > public. If you smelt a strong stench of frustration , you got it. This > rant > > > if you like, is meant to spur you into action and whip your advocacy > muscles > > > hard to get them moving. > > > > > > Ps: You is not personal, nor does it single out CLUG members, it a > generic > > > Linux enthusiast enumeration in this case. > > > > > > Cheers > > > Szemir > > > > > > > > > On Friday 12 June 2009 20:54:23 TekBudda wrote: > > > > > >> With the penguins winning the cup...it makes we wonder if maybe...this > > >> could be the year of the Linux Desktop? > > >> > > >> Detroit underestimated them & the got schooled...Microsoft tends to > > >> underestimate Linux.....and well... who knows? ;-) > > >> > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> clug-talk mailing list > > >> [email protected] > > >> http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > > >> Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > > >> **Please remove these lines when replying > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > clug-talk mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > > > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > > > **Please remove these lines when replying > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > clug-talk mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > > **Please remove these lines when replying > > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying >
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